The Port of Beaumont boasts plenty of impressive achievements, cementing itself as an economic engine for Southeast Texas.
However, upgrades are always needed when it comes to staying in the captain’s chair.
To help make that happen, Port Director and CEO Chris Fisher talked about the ongoing efforts to deepen the Sabine Neches Waterway from 40 to 48 feet, an effort that is going to take place in separate 4-feet deepening projects.
“It’s going to be a major difference for vessels, particularly liquid bulk,” Fisher said Aug. 28. “I think they can increase the volume they carry by 33 percent. That is a huge economy of scale.
“I was worried if I would ever see this project come to an end, because it is very complex. Lord willing, I will be here when they finish the first dig toward the end of 2026 and 2027. We are excited about that big project. It is very good for our area.”
Fisher made these comments as the featured speaker at a recent Rotary Club of Beaumont luncheon.
Another major opportunity for the area, the port director said, relates to the heights of local bridges and the possibility of their upgrades or replacements.
According to Fisher, Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge in Port Arthur, has a 136-foot air draft, which is an impediment to getting larger ships into the local region.
“Veterans Memorial Bridge, at 143 feet, is also an issue, but we will take the lowest one first,” he said. “We’re going to be talking to our legislators about the importance of these bridges. They need to be rebuilt.”
Beaumont is of such strategic importance, according to Fisher, that most of the last ship builds for carrying military cargo were specifically designed to get under the 136-foot bridge.
“I don’t know how long they will continue to do that,” he said. “Ships continue to get bigger. Now we’re working with industry and how industry is affected. It’s hard to prove a negative, but we are pretty confident there are a lot of vessels that don’t even come to our channel because of this air draft restriction.
“We’re working hard on that. I think it is very important to all of us and the continued growth of our waterway.
Corpus Christi has a bridge with a 138-foot air draft, and a new bridge under construction is going to rise to 205 feet.
Fisher doesn’t feel Beaumont or Port Arthur need bridges with a similar height. He noted new construction would be good if it raised air drafts to the mid-180s.
“We are currently in the midst of doing a new economic impact study that we hope will be released, maybe, by the end of the year to show what our economic impact is,” Fisher said.
